nehushtan

2 definitions found

nehushtan - Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 :

  Nehushtan \Ne*hush"tan\, n. [Heb.]
     A thing of brass; -- the name under which the Israelites
     worshiped the brazen serpent made by Moses. --2 Kings xviii.
     4.
     [1913 Webster] Neif

nehushtan - Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary :

  Nehushtan
  of copper; a brazen thing a name of contempt given to the
  serpent Moses had made in the wilderness (Num. 21:8), and which
  Hezekiah destroyed because the children of Israel began to
  regard it as an idol and "burn incense to it." The lapse of
  nearly one thousand years had invested the "brazen serpent" with
  a mysterious sanctity; and in order to deliver the people from
  their infatuation, and impress them with the idea of its
  worthlessness, Hezekiah called it, in contempt, "Nehushtan," a
  brazen thing, a mere piece of brass (2 Kings 18:4).